Monday, 3 March 2008

Dedication to the cause (Or, bread and books)

We spent our lazy Sunday yesterday pursuing one of our favourite pastimes: buying books. There is something so wonderful about browsing in book shops, and I must admit that N and I do it very well indeed. So well in fact that seven hours can slip by with us barely noticing. Opps!

We returned to the flat very smug indeed with a bag full of lovely purchases, and the smell of secondhand bookshops lingering on our clothing. However, there was no incentive to cook (too many books to look at) and certainly no incentive to bake bread. We ordered a curry and settled down with the taped match in front of us and our newly acquired books littering our laps and sofa.

It was past half eight when we finished eating and I was so tempted to give in and just get some emergency store bought bread out of the freezer (we have three loaves in there from pre-baking resolutions which are agreed to be emergency loaves). But something in me just wouldn't give in. I knew we'd be going to bed late-ish and figured that bread would take a maximum of three hours with resting, proving and baking. So, with N ploughing through one of his new books and yelling match highlights at me down the flat I quickly threw ingredients into a bowl. Using the wonderful pecan and cranberry recipe (mentioned earlier somewhere in my bread making posts), as a guide I made a wholemeal nut and seed loaf using half pecans, half walnuts and a large handful of pumpkin seeds.Since I know the proportions of flour, water, salt and yeast by heart now all I had to do was work out how much of the nuts and seeds to use (70g nuts, 30g seeds). I then left it to rest and prove as the recipe recommended and baked it for 40mins. By 11.45pm we had a lovely crusty new loaf ready for the morning and the smell of fresh bread to waft through the flat as we lay reading in bed.

It was great, and proves that a little dedication to the cause is always worth it. Books and bread, numbers two and three on my favourite things list.

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About Me

I'm a book-obsessed baker who dreams of building a jam empire from a farm shop on a small holding. For now, I'm holding out with my cats, my lovely handsome man, a cup of tea and Test Match Special. Pop by and say hello...